The CCPA can have a minimal or drastic effect on your business. Whether running a small SEO campaign or you are managing an omni-channel marketing presence, the CCPA can impact various methods of outreach. So Dave discusses the state guidelines, the kinds of companies they apply to, and the steps businesses are making to comply with the CCPA.
Video Transcription
Dave Martin (00:00):
So what's the big deal with the CCPA, California Consumer Protection Act? Well, a lot of people are wondering that, and that's why we wanted to go ahead and make this video to see if your company even falls under the rules of the CCPA.
(00:20):
So, why should you even care about the CCPA? Well, if your business actually qualifies and meets the criteria and has to conform to the CCPA, what that means is consumers now have the right to know if you're collecting data from them, how you're collecting data from them, and different methods of how you collect data. And, if they ask you, you have to be able to give them their data when they request it. So, this has got a lot of marketers scratching their heads, wondering, "How are we going to get in line with this without going too far overboard?"
(00:57):
And there's actually other states in the United States that are currently drafting their own versions of the CCPA, but everybody's looking right now to California to see how other companies are going to be conforming to this. Because even though it started as of January 1st of this year, it actually is not going to be enforced until July of this year.
(01:21):
Now, one thing I want to make painfully obvious. I might sound like an attorney, but I am not. So, I'm not an attorney, and from here on, any advice or any kind of insight we give, I will preface with you should still speak to an attorney to get advice about your business's particular situation.
(01:42):
So the elephant in the room is, does the CCPA apply to your business? And the answer is maybe. You have to be a for-profit entity doing business in California, and you also have to say yes to one of the three following criteria. Does your business have annual gross revenues in excess of 25 million or possess personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices? Or lastly, does your business earn more than half of its annual revenue from selling consumers' personal information?
(02:24):
Okay, so the good news is there's many companies that have watched this that have heard the criteria and that realized that the CCPA may not apply to them. But there's also companies that have heard this that go, "Yes, that definitely applies to us." So the next question is, okay, what are the things that you as a company, if the CCPA does apply to you, what are the things that you need to do now to get ready so that once this is enforced, as of July 1st, you're ready for it? Well, the good news is there's seven tips that I want to leave you with on how to get prepared for the CCPA.
(03:06):
The first is you need to make a list of all of your firm's data. You want to make sure that you know what customer data that you have, how it's organized, how it's used, where it's stored. This is essential to ensure that you're compliant with CCPA.
(03:24):
Number two, you want to review and update your firm's privacy policy. You want to make sure that this is also in line with the CCPA. Number three, this one is going to really stand out here because what the CCPA wants you to do is to put somewhere on your website's homepage a link that says, "Do not sell my personal information." And when somebody clicks on that, they'll be pushed to a webpage where they have the option to opt out.
(04:03):
Number four, you want to give the option for your customers to update, change, or delete any data that you have stored on them. Number five, you should also provide a toll-free number just as another way to let your customers opt out. Number six, create a plan to ensure that your employees know how to handle any consumers that reach out to them with these kinds of opt-out issues. And lastly, number seven, you want to make sure that any other kinds of marketing that you're doing comply to CCPA standards, from email marketing to landing pages and any other way that you are aggregating and gathering customer data.
(04:53):
So was it judgment day? Well, not totally. Many marketers that we talked to are taking a very proactive approach to conforming to the CCPA and a very glass-half-full approach. And so, really, what they're doing is they're researching the guidelines within the CCPA to see if their company actually conforms to them. So, just to help you out, within the description below, there's a link to the actual legislative document for the CCPA. So you could grab that and do your own research. And also, you could Google online and find other resources because, like I said, I am not an attorney, and I'm not playing one right now, so it'd be great for you to get advice from your own legal counsel. Keep rocking.